Are you aware of the restlessness of your thoughts? If you watch your mind, you will see that it jumps from one subject to another, never standing still. The mind is always busy, too often with trivialities. One moment you might be thinking one thing, and the next moment thinking about something else. This is a deeply embedded habit that constantly distracts the mind and prevents it from focusing on one thing at a time.

If you wish to succeed in anything, you need to be able to overcome the restlessness of your thoughts. The key to every job well done and to every success is concentration - the ability to focus the mind on one thing.

When there are no restless thoughts – There is inner peace.

In my book, Peace of Mind in Daily life, I have written a short story, illustrating the similarity between the behavior of fish and the behavior of thoughts. It is about a young man who asked a spiritual teacher to help him gain peace of mind. To his amazement, the teacher sent him to the river, to watch the fish swimming in the water.

Here is an excerpt from this story:

After sitting by the river for some time, a revelation suddenly flashed through his mind and he shouted excitedly: “My mind and my thoughts are restless too, exactly like the flock of fish. This is probably what the teacher wanted me to understand.”

He continued watching the fish, becoming more and more acutely aware of the great similarity between the fish’s behavior and the behavior and his mind. The fish stayed for a little while in one spot, then abruptly moved elsewhere. So did his mind. It focused on one thought for a little while, then moved to another thought, and then again to another one, and so on and on, restlessly and ceaselessly.

“My mind and thoughts behave exactly like these restless fish,” he said to himself, “constantly jumping from one subject to another, restlessly and aimlessly.”

“When the fish do not move, something that hardly happens, there are no ripples and there is silence and peace in the water. So is my mind. If my thoughts and mental movements could stop, there would have been peace. The mental activity takes away the peace, just as the movements of the fish disturb the tranquility of the water.”

The young man became very fascinated by the way the fish moved, by the movement of the water, and by the silence in which the fish lived. His mind became so absorbed in what he was observing that he lost awareness of the passing time.

The next day, the young man returned to the teacher and enthusiastically recounted his experiences and revelation:

“I understand why you have sent me to the river to watch the fish. I have discovered that my thoughts behave exactly like the fish. Both are restless, never standing still. If I want to gain some inner peace, I need to learn to calm down the incessant and never ending chatter of my mind.”

Peace of Mind in Daily Life

Clear, step-by-step instructions and guidance for gaining inner peace, inner happiness, mental mastery and freedom from worries and anxieties, written in a clear and easy to understand language.

Remez Sasson is the founder of SuccessConsciousness.com. He is the author of articles and books, teaching how to use your mental tools and inner powers to create a life of happiness, success, fulfillment and inner peace.